Should you upgrade to Office 2016?

Should you upgrade to Office 2016? This familiar suite of productivity apps is now available for all users with an Office 365 Business Premium subscription. This version has the same look and feel as Office 2013, but offers a number of new features that aligns it better with Microsoft’s Cloud First, Mobile First strategy. The primary theme behind this new release is real-time online collaboration. With Office 2016 multiple users can edit a Word or PowerPoint document simultaneously, but only if the document is stored in OneDrive. This capability has existed in the online versions of Word, Powerpoint and Excel for a while, but now you can do the same thing using the full-featured desktop apps. Sorry – but Excel 2016 (the desktop version) does NOT support simulatneous co-authoring.

Outlook also sports a new collaboration feature call Groups that lets you easily navigate collaborative workspaces with rummaging through your inbox for invites. Office 2016 also include a preview of a lightweight project management tool called Planner, which can be used to manage small projects or track the progress of work in your office.

Click here to see what else new and improved in Office 2016.

Office 2016 is not a major upgrade of the productivity suite. In fact, if you’re already using Office 2013 then you’ll hardly notice any difference. What Office 2016 does offer for the first time is a common user experience across all the devices you might use – Windows computers, Macs, iPads, iPhones, as well as Android phones and tablets. Office 2016 delivers on the promise of working anytime, anywhere.

Although Microsoft pitches that Office 2016 is the perfect match for Windows 10, it actually works great with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 as well.

Our recommendation

Yes, we recommend upgrading to Office 2016, especially if you’re currently running Office 2003 or Office 2007. The upgrade process is relatively trouble-free.

You can initiate the upgrade manually or wait for the automatic notification. Click here for more information.

If you want some help getting familiar with Office 2016, Microsoft offers excellent free online training resources.